(Houston Chronicle Staff)
Most of Houston’s aging high schools would be rebuilt or renovated under HISD Superintendent Terry Grier’s plan to seek voter approval for a $1.9 billion bond issue, the largest in recent history for a Texas district.

Grier’s proposal, unveiled Thursday, would phase in a tax rate increase of about 7 cents, costing the owner of an average-priced home an extra $99 a year in 2017. The first hike would go into effect in 2014, raising the average bill by $29.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the plan in August. It would appear on a crowded November ballot that includes city, community college and Metro referendums, seen as potential threats to passage.

“I say this and I mean this with my soul: This bond could transform Houston as a city,” Grier said Thursday. “I’m a former high school principal. I know the difference a high school makes in a community. Putting a brand-new high school in the middle of a community is absolutely a strategy to jump start the economy there.”